Improvement in sewing-machines



n. w. DREW.

Attachment for Sewing Machines.

Patented June 30, I863.

Even/Z02 /WKW 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REUBEN W. DBEVV, OF PLYMOUTH, ASSIGNOR TO ALFRED B. ELY, OF

. NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

lMPROVEMENT lN SEWING-MACHINES. I

Specification forming part-of Letters Patent No. 39,092, dated June 30, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REUBEN DREW, of Plymouth,in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and usep'artot' this specification, andwhich represents a section through what is known as a hornmachine for sewing on the soles of boots and shoes, but which is equally applicable to any other sewing-machine using what is termed a waxed thread.

In the useof clear waxed thread in sewingmaehines it'has been found that the rooms or apartments where used must be highly heated to. make the waxed thread sufflciently pliable to work in and through a machine, and so great has been the difliculty of making threads waxed with clear shoe-makefls-wax sufficiently pliableor flexible to work in machines that an inferior article of wax, or, rather, of a composition of a softer nature, has been resorted to, which is actually injurious to the thread, either rotting itorevaporatingand leaving the thread dry. After much experiment I have succeeded in making an attachment to a sewing-machine using a waxed thread that is perfectly practical and highly useful, enabling me to use waxed threads in any room or building under any temperatures.

My invention relates and is applicable to any sewing-machine using waxed threads, and whose parts to which the heat is applied are made of metal, whatever may be its construclion and mode of operation, but so that the heat may be distributed over the waxed thread without allowing the flame to injure it; and it consists in the application of heat by the flame of a lamp, or of a gas-burner, or their equivalents, to a sewing-machine using waxed threads, for the purpose of warming the thread and rendering it pliable, and thus applicable to machine-sewing under any temperatures of the external air.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its application to what is termed a horn-machine for sewing on the soles of boots and shoes, its application to other boot and shoe or leather sewing machines being equally obvious without any modification of the general plan other than within the scope of any mechanic or attendant on such machines A represents the base of a sewing-machine, on which is arranged a metallic horn, 13, over which the shoe or boot to be sewed is placed,

.the sewing-point being at or near the point a.

O is a spool or bobbin carrying a waxed thread, 0, which may pass along the horn B, in a groove or otherwise, to the sewing-point a,

where. by means of a needle, hook, bobbin, or;

other appliances well-known for'forming a a stitch in or through the article to be sewed, it maybe interlocked into stitches.

Under the frame or base A, I arrange a lamp, D, the wick-tubeeof which mayproject through said base, so that its flame may, by conduction or the direct application of its heat, warm the metal horn snfliciently to in turn warm the wax of the thread 0, and thus render it pliable and flexible at the point where it is to be passed through the leather or other material to be sewed by it and interlocked into a stitch or stitches. It is obvious that any flame other than a lamp will serve the same purpose-such as gas; but a burning-fluid or gas with the least quantity of crude carbon in it will be more cleanly. The lamp or flame may be placed elsewhere than where shown; but I have shown a convenient place l'orits location. The

.lamp may be removable or accessible for replenishing or otherwise.

'Having thus fully described the nature, object, and purpose of my invention, what 1 claim is The application of heat by or through the flame of a lamp, gas-burner, or their equivalents, to waxed-thread sewing-machines, in the manner substantially as described, for the purpose of warming the thread and rendering it pliable. I

REUBEN \V. DREYV. WVitnesses:

DANL D. Reopen/an,- RUFUS L. Lewis. 

